In interactive television, a broadcaster may broadcast triggers to a great
many receiver units prompting the receiver units to attempt to send
requests to a single destination on the Internet at roughly the same
time. Such a large number of simultaneous requests can give rise to
throughput problems and server overload. A receiver unit in accordance
with the invention, rather than immediately attempting to send a request,
waits a period of time (for example, a random period) before sending the
request so as not to overload the server. In one embodiment, a trigger is
received on an interactive television receiver unit prompting the viewer
to select an icon. If the viewer selects the icon, then a browser in the
receiver unit retrieves a web page on the Internet identified by a URL in
the trigger. The web page includes an indication of a destination,
scheduling information, and a form area. The viewer enters user
information in association with the form area. The browser captures that
user information, incorporates it into a request, and then stores the
request in a queue along with the scheduling information. The browser
periodically checks the scheduling information in the queue and
determines from the scheduling information if it is time to send the
request. When the browser determines the time has come to send a request
in the queue, the browser retrieves the request and sends it to the
destination. The browser may then receive a return response and display
it.